The celebrity chef Mario Batali, one of the country’s most high-profile restaurateurs, is stepping away from the daily operations of his businesses and the daytime program he co-hosts on ABC, “The Chew,” amid allegations of sexual misconduct.

Mr. Batali released a statement after a report was published Monday on Eater,the food website, that said four women had alleged that Mr. Batali touched them inappropriately in a pattern of behavior that appeared to span at least two decades. Three of the women worked for Mr. Batali, and the fourth worked in the restaurant industry, Eater reported.

In his statement, Mr. Batali apologized and said that the accusations “match up” with his behavior:

“Although the identities of most of the individuals mentioned in these stories have not been revealed to me, much of the behavior described does, in fact, match up with ways I have acted,” he said in the statement. “That behavior was wrong and there are no excuses.”

“I have work to do to try to regain the trust of those I have hurt and disappointed,” he added. “For this reason, I am going to step away from day-to-day operations of my businesses.”

It was not immediately clear how long Mr. Batali planned to stay away from his businesses.

Mr. Batali, 57, made his remarks specifically in response to the Eater report, which included details from interviews with the four women, who were not identified in the report.

They described behavior that included breast groping and being grabbed from behind. In one instance, a woman said she was compelled to straddle Mr. Batali to get past him as he sat blocking an exit.

Mr. Batali had also recently been reprimanded because of a complaint made in October by an employee at one of the more than 20 restaurants in the Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group, a company spokesman said on Monday.

The spokesman said that Mr. Batali had been required to undergo sexual harassment training above what is already required of employees. He then volunteered to keep away from the restaurant where the employee worked, and he has done so, said the spokesman, who declined to be identified by name.

The spokesman would not name the restaurant where the woman worked, and it was not immediately clear whether the employee was among the women interviewed in the Eater report.

After the Eater report was released on Monday, Batali & Bastianich Hospitality Group said in a statement that it had taken further measures that extended to all his restaurants.

“Mr. Batali and we have agreed that he will step away from the company’s operations, including the restaurants, and he has already done so,” it said. It also said that the company had provided employees with access to an outside investigations firm if they want to make claims against corporate officers or owners.

The recent allegations against Mr. Batali led ABC to ask Mr. Batali, who has been on “The Chew” since 2011, to step away “while we review the allegations that have just recently come to our attention,” the network said in a statement on Monday.

“ABC takes matters like this very seriously as we are committed to a safe work environment,” the statement said. “While we are unaware of any type of inappropriate behavior involving him and anyone affiliated with the show, we will swiftly address any alleged violations of our standards of conduct.”

The allegations against Mr. Batali were among the latest to be made against prominent men in several industries following a New York Times report in October about women accusing the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault and harassment.

The revelations about Mr. Batali have shaken up the food industry, where he is also a best-selling author of cookbooks. He has long appeared as a television personality in cooking competitions, including “Iron Chef America” and “Top Chef.”

Last year, he was enlisted by Michelle Obama to put together the last state dinner of the Obama presidency.

The allegations concerning Mr. Batali drew quick response from the food industry, including suggestions that such behavior was widespread.

Tiffani Faison, an American chef who was a finalist on the first season of Bravo’s reality show “Top Chef,” suggested that there was a culture of silence in professional kitchens.

“I cannot believe we are in a true watershed moment when NOT ONE MAN has gotten ahead of allegations,” she wrote on Twitter. “They all know what they did and are just hoping their number doesn’t come up. That is the opposite of integrity.”

Like many of Mr. Batali’s colleagues, Traci Des Jardins, the San Francisco chef and restaurateur who has known Mr. Batali since the late 1980s, was conflicted about the reports.

She and others expressed sympathy for the thousands of people whose livelihoods depend on the Batali brand, as they did when allegations surfaced against John Besh, the high-profile New Orleans restaurateur, in October. In that city, people have vowed not to go to Mr. Besh’s restaurants, and calls for boycotts of Mr. Batali’s restaurants arose, although some expressed caution about such a boycott, saying it would hurt workers who had nothing to do with his behavior.

The chef and television personality Tom Coliccho, who has been one of the few male chefs speaking publicly about sexual harassment in the restaurant business since news about Mr. Weinstein and others came out, said he was not surprised to hear about Mr. Batali.

“Am I supposed to report rumor and innuendo and suspicion?” he asked. “It’s not my story to tell. This is about the women and it damages the ‘me, too’ movement if we don’t let them speak for themselves.”

Mr. Batali is among a small group of chefs who helped diners deftly navigate a transition from decades of Eurocentric dining to one more distinctly American, and became a celebrity doing it.

Although Italian-American chefs had long been cooking regional specialties, Mr. Batali is largely credited with educating an entire nation on the delights of tripe, beef cheek ravioli and spicy squid through his restaurants and his first television show, “Molto Mario,” which ran from 1996 to 2004.

He was raised outside of Seattle, where his family still lives and operates Salumi, a widely praised cured meat shop in Pioneer Square. After graduating from Rutgers University and training in kitchens in Italy, he moved to New York in 1992. From there he built an international empire with his partner Joe Bastianich that, in addition to more than 20 restaurants, includes the Eataly Italian market franchise and a television career that ranged from scrappy shows when Food Network was in its infancy to a regular spot on “The Chew.”

At his first restaurant, the tiny Po in Greenwich Village, he made his name with fresh pastas and other dishes that, while not quite authentically Italian, were brightly flavored and deeply appealing. Po opened in 1993, when most American food lovers were just beginning to understand the world of Italian food in between the two poles of red-sauce “Southern” and cream-rich “Northern.”

In 1998, he opened Babbo Ristorante in New York’s West Village. It was an immediate hit, receiving three stars from Ruth Reichl, then the New York Times food critic. His white-tablecloth place in the meatpacking district, Del Posto, was the first Italian restaurant to earn four stars from The New York Times, bestowed by Sam Sifton.

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A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A20 of the New York edition with the headline: Celebrity Chef Steps Away From Restaurants Amid Harassment Reports. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe